Sister Phipps

Living under the canopy of ransomed grace.

[sisterphipps]

So they must make friends, and not be prejudiced, and go about fancying they knew everything there was to be known, because they didn't, not by a long way. And he warned them against the sin of romancing, and making up stories and fancying other people would believe them just because they were plausible and highly-coloured.

The Reluctant Dragon by Ernest H. Shepard.

“He” is Saint George, by the way.

I feel like that describes our whole society. We think we know everything. We make up stories that seem plausible, but are untrue.

Apparently, 1938 also had these problems, because Shepard was undoubtedly talking to his own generation. And it sounds like it was commentary on our lives today.

This is why I love older lit. This was a deleted book from my library, but I had a feeling it still had lots to say to people now. (I was right.)

[sisterphipps]

And they shouldn't be so fond of fights, because next time they might have to do the fighting themselves, which would not be the same thing at all.

The Reluctant Dragon by Ernest H. Shepard.

Sounds a bit like he’s talking to us, right?

[sisterphipps]

When we reclaim conversation and the places to have them, we are let to reconsider the importance of long-term thinking. Life is not a problem looking for a quick fix. Life is a conversation and you need places to have it.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

[sisterphipps]

Think of unitasking as the next big thing. In every domain of life, it will increase performance and decrease stress. But doing on thing at a time is hard, because it means asserting ourselves over what technology makes easy and over what feels productive in the short term. Multitasking comes with its own high. Our brains crave the fast and unpredictable, the quick hit of the new. We know this a human vulnerability. Unless we design our lives and technology to work around it, we resign our ourselves to diminished performance... in practice, I see multitasking everywhere. Unitasking is key to productivity and creativity.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

This is the bit where I winced. It seems like my whole job and life is multitasking. So, the projects I really need to get to...maybe those don’t get done because they require 100% focus, not 60% project, 40% TV.

[sisterphipps]

Emails and texts make quick responses possible; they don't make them wise.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

[sisterphipps]

Politics still needs meetings that are meetings. It still needs conversations that require listening, conversations in which you are prepared to change your mind. This is what our current political landscape discourages.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

[sisterphipps]

But everyone at this company is trying to prove that they are worthy of being here. Being always available, online, is the simplest way to show this.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

I totally know and understand what this feels like. Always online, with our green available dot next to my name. It showed I was at work. It was my time card.

[sisterphipps]

Common sense should not be devalued nor should simplicity be discarded. We need to build our answers up from our very human ground.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

[sisterphipps]

Instead of talking, you agree to surveillance.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

When apps take the place of a conversation.

[sisterphipps]

But daydreaming moves us toward the longer term. It helps us develop the base for a stable self and helps us come up with new solutions. To mentor for innovation we need to convince people to slow things down, let their minds wander, and take time alone.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

[sisterphipps]

...each student is given an iPad for reading textbooks, organizing assignments, and keeping up with the school schedule. The school is asking students to work from the very devices that distract them.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

Good point. 

[sisterphipps]

Science was taking the magic out of everything.

Root, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.

[sisterphipps]

Christmas trees remind us that God is like an evergreen tree--even in winter, never dead... Green in the midst of winter, light in the midst of darkness--it's all metaphors for God.

Susan Smith, The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

This is a stellar middle grade book! There’s so much I loved about it.

[sisterphipps]

What I want to know is this: Are the stars gold paper or is the gold paper stars?

Jane Banks, Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers.

[sisterphipps]

People Watching as Told by the Banks Children

“There were fussy and chatty grey doves like Grandmothers; and brown, rough-voiced pigeons like Uncles; and greeny, cackling, no-I’ve-got-no-money-today pigeons like Fathers. And the silly, anxious, soft blue doves were like Mothers. That’s what Jane and Michael thought, anyway.”

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. (Poem form is mine.)

[sisterphipps]

No matter how much the world evolves, the children of the world will never change. Every child is born with the same need for love, respect, and understanding. They're unified by the same fears, compassion, and convictions. They're tormented by an endless curiosity, a thirst for knowledge, and a desire for adventure... We could accomplish great things if we held on to such a fresh point of view.

Worlds Collide by Chris Colfer.

This is one of the first things I thought when I started working in a library. Kids still like bugs, dinosaurs, and sharks. They still hate or love books. They still hit each other. They still make instantaneous friends.

[sisterphipps]

Happily ever after isn't a solution to life's problems or a guarantee that life will be easy; it's a promise we make ourselves to always live our best lives, despite whatever circumstance comes our way. When we focus on joy in times of heartbreak, when we choose to laugh on the days it's hard to smile, and when we count our blessings over our losses--that's what a true happily ever after is all about... And that's what fairy tales have been trying to teach us all along.

Mr. Bailey, Worlds Collide by Chris Colfer.